From writers and books familiar to most people -- Sarah Orne Jewett, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and Edna St. Vincent Millay -- to notable, but perhaps less known, authors and books, Maine has been home to a large number of literary women.

Maine's first novel was written by a woman. A Mainer was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. A novel written in Maine is credited with helping to start the Civil War.

Featured here are only a few of Maine's women writers. They represent different regions of the state and different types of literature, some aimed at children, some adults. Some poetry, some prose.

Maine has a strong tradition of noted writers of fiction and non-fiction. Many Maine natives or later residents who took up writing used the state's culture, geography, and peoples as inspiration for their works. Their works can help the reader understand more about the history of the state.